Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks will each close out their four-year journey as Tar Heels with a national title. (Todd Melet)

Kennedy Meeks has taken the next step, and it’s a big one.

Although he was disappointed not to hear his name called in the NBA draft last month, Kennedy Meeks knew he had it coming. His reputation as an out-of-shape fatty in high school dogged him through his college career, as he slowly worked his way into a shape that no one seemed to notice.

I finally did when I walked in the Smith Center late in the season and Meeks was in front of me. Not only was he big – as in tall – he actually had a V-shaped body with broad shoulders wider than his almost boney butt. “Wow,” I said to myself, “He has become a physical specimen.”

The kid who really deserved Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four – for his 25 and 14 against Oregon and his game-saving block against Gonzaga – made the NBA combine after not even being invited last year. But Meeks still has to do it with hard work over natural athletic ability, and he managed to sign a summer league contract with Toronto.

He led the NBA Summer League in a stat called Player Efficiency, and I have no idea what that is. But it must have something to do with his averaging 11.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and one assist playing 15.5 minutes in four games. That didn’t match his college stats as a senior, but it was good enough for the Raptors to sign him to a partially guaranteed contract.

There is more work to be done. Terms were not disclosed, but generally a player must make either the big team’s roster or its minor league team in what is now called the G League because, guess what? – Gatorade bought the dadgum thing. Even the G League wouldn’t be bad for Meeks, because Toronto’s team, the Raptors 905, plays right there in the big city, so Kennedy will be just a text away if and when he earns a spot on the NBA bench.

Even if he doesn’t, he will have some kind of signing bonus to take to Europe where his big smile and bigger game due to his slimmed down body will be a big hit and command a healthy paycheck. So however it turns out, Kennedy Meeks is moving in the right direction. Good for him.

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